Sometimes I just need solitude, which is really rather nice.

Clubs need to take more ownership on how they recruit managers.

For players to perform near their best every week is commendable.

I'm very happy to shoulder the responsibility for my football team.

I enjoyed living abroad. I enjoyed the differences as much as anything.

The Premier League, the power of it sometimes overtakes the people involved in it.

Sometimes I just need to be out in nature. It's amazing how much I need time on my own.

I find it quite amusing that it's feasible that your opponents can have somebody watching you.

When you lose your job and it is about football, I can quickly put things in order and move on.

I've been asked whether I was worried about getting a reputation as a firefighter and it doesn't bother me.

I like being out there. I've done Snowdon, walked a bit of the Cleveland Way, did some of the Coast to Coast.

I get worn down by people telling you what you can't do or what the problems are. Go on, give us a solution then.

When you play the bigger clubs it's important that when you create chances, you do everything you can to take them.

Football clubs need to have a better understanding of what the club stands for and how they go about thier business.

I've noticed being back in football that, after some anonymity, people recognise you again. It's a pain in the neck.

I never underestimate or overestimate anybody. Really we have to try and find levels of performance for ourselves first.

I'm a human being and I will make mistakes from time to time but what I will say is that any mistakes I make are very honest ones.

I would like football clubs to be more aware of what their philosophy is, then recruit managers who fit the profile that suits them.

Going to Belgium proved to be quite a cathartic experience for me because it eventually helped to heal the situation of leaving Leicester too.

I love the other side of life, I like to do what interests me. People talk about bucket lists - I hate that. You might as well call it the coffin list.

I'm not going to all of a sudden start wearing a snazzy suit and putting a scarf around my neck, which seemed to be vogue for about 20 minutes at one point.

I live in Sheffield. I got the train in this morning. I had a walk yesterday afternoon and went to the pub in the evening. My family is very important to me.

The Derby experience had not been good for me and the way it finished left a very bad taste in my mouth so I questioned whether I wanted to go back into management.

Management brings the best and worst out of me, and I think you have to find a distinction between what is work and what isn't work, because football can take over your life.

I treat people fairly. I can't be dictatorial. We have multicultural dressing rooms and what's really important is that you have a way of working that brings the best out of everyone.

People whose views are swung when you get into these ridiculous debates - I think they're all nonsense. You've got to have a fundamental belief, you've got to believe in what you believe in.

It's never a straightforward thing to do, to be able to inherit a squad. When you're mid-season it's never easy to get a team or a squad of players to function exactly the way you want them to.

I think a lot of people, when the word leadership is used, they think of it as quite forceful and quite a rigid thing. I think people think I am like that. But people can lead in different ways.

Part and parcel of trying to understand and recognise your strengths and weaknesses is to be brutally honest with how you reflect on what you are yourself. I can't fundamentally change what I am.

You either like or don't like people warts and all. You've got to look yourself in the mirror. I don't like all the aspects of what I do and am, or things I've done, but you've got to live with it.

I hope I retain the appetite to find new things to stimulate me, whether that's travel or finding new interests. I'll always go out and enjoy nature and the countryside, because it's a big part of my life.

Some people criticise me for not being animated enough, for sitting in stands and not showing any passion. I come down, get involved in a couple of situations and all of a sudden, it's a slightly different angle.

When I went to the 2007 Europeans with the Under-21s, we were based at Oosterbeek near Arnhem and I went out on my bike a few times. We went over the bridge. I went to some of the war cemeteries there: very, very moving.

One of the things I am grateful for is that I was able to make contact again with Khun Vichai and work with him again. I still have an awful lot of admiration, warmth and respect for how he worked. I still feel that connection to the people I worked with at Leicester.

I have an understanding of how much is at stake in football, how much money is at stake, how much investment there is and what it means to the fans. It's an emotional game. It's a focal point for communities. It's escapism for fans. Sport is a wonderful thing but it is just that: sport. It is my job.

The way football has evolved in some of the bigger leagues in the world, you'd have to say there has become a bigger distance between the contact that you have, for everybody really. It's quite refreshing actually to experience something as simplistic as enjoying winning a game, and the players and the fans being together.

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